Passengers were rushed off the plane as fire crews doused the blaze. A Twitter user said: "So I'm off to Bulgaria and the plane next to us is on fire".

An easyJet spokesman said a ground power unit caught fire as passengers were disembarking but was quickly contained.

"easyJet can confirm that a ground power unit was briefly on fire at Liverpool Airport. Flight EZY610 from Belfast was parked on the stand next to the unit at the time and airport fire services attended and extinguished the fire.

"This fire did not affect the aircraft and the passengers disembarked as normal. The safety of easyJet's passengers and crew is always its highest priority," the statement read.

A spokesperson for Liverpool's John Lennon Airport wrote on Twitter: "There was a small fire on some ground service equipment but our Fire Service dealt with it very swiftly. Apologies for the delay."